Experts estimate that eighty percent of the United States population is afflicted with low back pain at some time in their lives. It has been reported that Americans spend approximately five billion dollars annually for treatment of back pain, often on treatment which is ineffective. In recent years the desirability of exercise of the back muscles and the spinal column in a tension or elongated position as opposed to compression has been proposed. The exercising of the back muscles and spinal column under tension has been found to allow for the proper alignment or realignment of the spinal column by removing the compressive load from pinched nerves and to strengthen and straighten contracted muscles in the lower back region.
Typical treatment for lower back pain includes not only occupational and physiological therapy but also physical therapy. The previously known physical therapy equipment used to provide tension on the spinal column and back muscles typically is expensive and complicated. Such equipment requires a skilled technician to adjust and operate. Thus, treatment for lower back pain has been an expensive endeavor.
In recent years the advantages of removing compression in alleviating or avoiding lower back pain have become more commonly known to the general public. This has resulted in the development of apparatus for personal home use which removes the normal compressive forces from the spinal column. Such apparatus typically include special "boots" or fittings for the ankles which are designed to allow a person to hang upside down by the feet. While this position does remove the compressive forces from the spinal column, the effects on blood flow from hanging completely upside down may be dangerous and it is believed that most people find the hanging upside down position extremely uncomfortable Furthermore, the apparatus to allow such a position is typically complex and requires a user to have above average agility and strength to safely use the equipment without supervision.
The difficulty of using such home inversion equipment and the uncomfortable position of hanging by the feet has limited public acceptance of such equipment and treatment, especially by the elderly or injured who could most often benefit from the treatment.
The present invention provides a simplified apparatus for applying tension to the spinal column and back muscles which allows for easy adjustment and safe, unsupervised use. The extent of inversion is easily controlled and the user is held in a bent knee, partially inverted position with a seatbelt-like restraint strap. The present invention can be easily and safely used without supervision because the user is not suspended in a totally inverted position but is partially inverted in a more comfortable supine, bent knee position. The apparatus allows for simple movement of the person's arms and legs to initiate the inversion and to return the person to a normal upright sitting position.